A 16-YEAR-OLD boy has been found guilty of taking part in an attempted raid on a luxury Guildford jewellery store.

He was part of a gang which travelled up from south London with the intention of robbing Preston & Duckworth in Jeffries Passage on the afternoon of July 21 last year.

The teenager, who cannot be be named for legal reasons, had denied attempted robbery but was convicted on Thursday following a three-day trial at Guildford Crown Court.

One member of staff described how she was “showered with glass” as a sledgehammer was smashed into the shop window.

Jurors were told the gang, dressed in masks and dark clothing, fled the scene in a taxi which took them to Clandon railway station.

Prosecutor Rufus Stilgoe told jurors that taxi driver Patricia Charge had picked up a group of young black men from an address in Epsom Road, Guildford, and took them to North Street, where she was asked to wait.

One quickly returned and asked if she could stay another 10 minutes.

“They said they wanted to see ‘the manager’, I said do you realise that you are paying for this time and they could call another cab if they wanted,” Miss Charge said during evidence on Monday.

“He said, ‘no, no problem we can pay'.

“Then I saw three of them run back towards the car. They were a bit flustered, you can just tell if someone is flustered.”

During cross-examination, the 16-year-old said the first time he knew anything untoward was happening was when he noticed another member of the gang concealing a weapon.

He claimed to have gone to Guildford with the group to collect a friend to play in a football match in Clapham.

“I thought an assault was going to happen,” he said.

“I saw the handle from the sledgehammer but I didn’t actually see the sledgehammer.

“I said 'why have you got that, what are you doing?'. I did ask them questions but they were ignoring me.”

Judge Christopher Critchlow released the teenager on conditional bail to re-appear before the court on June 18.

He will be sentenced alongside a 17-year-old as well as Joreane Campbell, 18, of Victoria Crescent, London. Both had earlier admitted their part in the failed raid.